Scientific name	Racomitrium fasciculare – Festuca vivipara scree community
Common name	Green Mountain Fringe-moss – Viviparous Fescue scree community
Community code	RH2B

 

          

Download full pdf synopsis: RH2B

 

Vegetation

The main components of this rocky habitat community are mostly bryophytes and grasses. Festuca vivipara, Agrostis capillaris and Galium saxatile are the constant vascular plants, with tufts of Anthoxanthum odoratum frequent. Crevices in the rocks occasionally support rosettes of Saxifraga spathularis and in shady, sheltered spots Hymenophyllum wilsonii may be found. The bryophyte layer comprises mostly hoary patches of Racomitrium lanuginosum and the greener patches of Racomitrium fasciculare, but also usually includes Polytrichum commune and Breutelia chrysocoma and frequently Diplophyllum albicans and Pleurozia purpurea.

 

Ecology

This is a community of sparsely vegetated siliceous scree slopes of the high uplands. Soils, where they accumulate, are skeletal. Conditions are acidic, moist and infertile.

 

Sub-communities

No formal sub-communities have been described for this community.

 

Similar communities

Racomitrium fasciculare and Breutelia chrysocoma are much less frequent in the RH2C Racomitrium lanuginosum –Hypnum jutlandicum scree community, which in general has more cover from dry heath species than RH2B.

 

Conservation value

Examples of this community qualify as EU HD Annex I habitat 8110 Siliceous scree.

 

Management

Some more accessible areas of this vegetation may be sheep-grazed but it is essentially unmanaged.